Railway motor-car.



s. V. ME IGS.

RAILWAYVMOTOR GAR.

APPLIOATIOII FILED SEPT. 1, 1911.

Patented May 7, 1912.

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ifi'r nessas COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH CO.,WASHINGTON, D. c.-

Patented May 7, 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPI'I co. WASHINGTON. D. C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STANLEY V. MEIGS, OF PUEBLO, COLORADO.

RAILWAY MOTOR-CAR.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, STANLEY V. MEIGS, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Pueblo, in the State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Motor Cars, of which the following is a clear, full, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to improve the construction of portable motors for railway use, so that the same will keep upon the tracks in passing over frogs and switch points, cross-overs and curves, at the same time making a car of such construction and weight that it will serve all the purposes of the present cars, which are now in use in place of the old fashioned type of man-propelled hand car.

At the present time, there is in use a railway motor car, which carries on two wheels the seat for the operators, the motor and the gearing, directly or almost directly over one rail, while the device is kept upon the track by outrigger arms, which carry flanged wheels adapted to rest against the other rail. 1k car of this description is quite popular because the small guide wheels and outrigger arms may be taken off for shipping in baggage cars, but the entire weight practlCt ll y of the car and the operators is on one rail. The explosions of the motor cause a wabbling motion, encouraging the small wheels to climb the rail, which wheels, carrying but little weight, are almost certain to climb curves, except when running at a low rate of speed. The operator sits in the back of the car and in the event of his being caught by a train, when he has little time to remove the car when, if alone, he must lift off the rear end of the car, swing it around at right angles to the track, pull the car back until the front wheels are against the rail, walk to the front of the car and lift it over and off the rail. Obviously, there is little time to waste when a train is approaching. The effect of applying the brakes too suddenly on a car of this type is to skid the wheels, which seems to throw too much weight against the flanges of the little wheels, so that they will again endeavor to climb the rail, making likelihood of derailment almost certain.

There is a second type of a railway motor car on the market which carries four Wheels of an ordinary car construction, and a motor with platform for a gang of men carried Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. September 1, 1911.

Patented May "1, 1912. Serial No. 647,196.

over the mid portion of the car, between the tracks. This car is well adapted for use by section gangs, etc., but is too heavy for use by one man, or two men, and in View of its short wheel base, which is present in all cars of this character, and also of hand cars, there is a likelihood to climb switches, frogs, crossovers and curves, particularly when driven by a gasolene motor, which adds to the general vibration and jump of a. light, or even the heavy type of gang motor car.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a car, in any event having four flanged wheels, preferably carrying the weight of the car body and the passengers between the rails, and I preferably provide a pony truck in advance of the front end of the car, having wheels of smaller diameter than the main wheels of the car. On each side of the car, extending from flange to flange, and of substantially the width of the flanges of the wheels I extend a runner or skid of such a width as to allow the skid or runner to follow the flanges through cross-overs, frogs, switches, etc. This runner or skid is braced from side to side of the car, and is a part of the frame. It acts as one continuous flange from wheel to wheel, and aids in keeping the car on the track at all times, even in view of the comparatively short wheel base. It also acts as a runner or skid when the car is thrown at right angles to the track to allow the operator to slide it like a sled across the rail, and into safety. By the use of small diameter of pony truck wheels at one end of the car the operator may grasp the other end and trundle the car around like a twowheeled wheel barrow. By making the distance between the axles of the main wheels greater than the gage of track, and by providing the runners, I secure a car which, when thrown around, will always have its skids or runners resting on top of one rail, so that no direct lifting is necessary by the operator. The runner or skid, being but slightly smaller than the width of the flange of the wheels, acts as a continuous flange between the wheels, and should a wheel start to climb a rail the runner or skid reduces the chance of the car leaving the track, but if the car should leave the rails entirely it will then slide on the runners over the ties until it stops, not bumping and jolting over and between the ties, as with the present style of car, which is of course one of the causes of injury to hand car passengers, and one of the reasons for wreckage of hand cars when they leave the rails.

The scope of my invention will be pointed out in the claim.

As shown in the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevation of a car constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a section on line 22, Fig. 1, the wheels being shown in dotted lines, showing one side portion only of my improved car. Fig. 3 is a section on line 8-3, Fig. 1, drawn to an enlarged scale.

As shown in the drawings, the wheel frame 1 has journaled axles 2 and 8 at each end of the frame, provided with flanged wheels 4 of ordinary construction. Preferably the axles are a greater distance apart than the gage of the track. Above the Wheel frame 1 with suitable springs 5, interposed, I locate my car body 6, carrying the motor 7 shown diametrically in dotted lines, and seats 8 for the operator. An extension 9 of the wheel frame is provided for pony wheels 10, which are secured to the extension 9 by interposed. springs 11, so that the weight of the car does not normally rest on the pony wheels, they being kept lightly in contact with the track through the spring interposed between their axle and the extension of the frame. At the ends of vertical rods 12 between the main wheels, I firmly secure a skid or runner 14E of slightly less thickness than the flanges of the wheels, having pointed wedge shaped ends indicated at 15, Fig. 1, held close up to the flange of the wheel, but not touching the same, and I provide diagonal guide braces 16 therefor, Fig. 3, secured to the under part of the wheel frame. On a hanger 17 and its diagonal brace 18, I provide a second runner or skid 19, between each pony wheel, and its adjacent flanged wheel. The rails are indicated by the reference characters 20 and 21.

As will be seen from the foregoing description, when the car is provided either with or without the pony wheels, no mat ter which end of the car is slewed around at right angles of the track for removal, the car will be left resting on a skid, so that it can be slid off readily by the operator. The pony wheels of course additionally aid the operator in sliding a car off at right angles, for he can lift one end like a wheel barrow after the skids leave the rail.

In carrying out this invention, details of construction may be varied from those shown, and yet the essence of the invention be retained; some parts might be employed. without others, and new features thereof might be combined with elements old in the art in diverse ways, although the herein described type is regarded as embodying substantial improvements over such modifications.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely differentembodiments of the invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense. It is furthermore desired to be understood that the language used in the following claim is intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which as a matter of language might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

The herein described railway car consisting of the car body, a pair of flanged wheels at the side thereof, one near each end of the body, a continuous skid or runner extending between the flanges of the wheels, having its lower edge below the top of the rail of a width adapted to pass through frogs and switches, its ends so close to the flanges that a substantially continuous surface will be presented by the flanges and skids when crosswise of a railroad rail.

Signed at the city of Pueblo in the State of Colorado this 23rd day of August, in the year one thousand nine hundred and eleven.

STANLEY V. MEIGS.

Witnesses D. C. Mines, F. A. LUGINER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

